Aaron Finch, the Australian white-ball captain has given the strongest indication that big-hitting batsman Tim David is in their 2022 T20I World Cup plans after he produced another stunning display of hitting in England.
Tim David, who has played 14 T20 internationals for Singapore but has never played first-class cricket in Australia, went on a rampage for Lancashire in the Vitality T20 Blast, smashing four fours and four sixes in making 60 off just 25 balls at Old Trafford.
Aaron Finch: Tim David Has Been In Fantastic Form For A While
It comes after the 26-year-old showed his capabilities, albeit in limited opportunities, with the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League where the Singapore-born West Australian was paid $1.5m for his services.
Tim David wasn’t named in Australia’s T20 squad for next month’s tour of Sri Lanka, but on Monday Aaron Finch conceded it was becoming hard to look past him. With a 2022 T20I World Cup defense at home this year, Aaron Finch said Tim David had to come into calculations.
“Yeah, I think so. He’s been in fantastic form for a while now,” Finch said.
“The back end of the IPL was fantastic for him. He was at is brutal best. The ability to hit from ball one is a pretty rare skill and he’s done that plenty of times now. Him being so consistent, that’s something we will definitely look at over the next little while.”
Aaron Finch was speaking after the confirmation of the Australian summer of cricket that includes six one-day internationals and five T20s before the World Cup.
Tim David, a Singapore batsman is a right-handed batter and a right-arm off-break bowler. He has been with the Hobart Hurricanes, Perth Scorchers, St. Lucia Kings, and Royal Challengers Bangalore before coming to the Mumbai Indians. He is renowned for his clean finishing ability.
He had played 1 IPL 2021 match for RCB scoring 1 run. For his new franchise Mumbai Indians, he has scored 186 runs in 8 IPL 2022 games averaging 37.2 at a stunning strike rate of 216.28.
Aaron Finch Admits He Is Going Through A Reasonable Lean Patch
There have been concerns over the skipper’s own form, and former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson even called on the 35-year-old to retire, despite making 55 in his most recent T20 international against Pakistan.
But while conceding he’s going through a “lean patch” – he scored just 86 runs in five innings after a late call-up to the IPL – Aaron Finch said there was enough cricket before the tournament for him to work out his kinks and keep everyone off his back.
“It’s been a reasonable lean patch, I’ve been through that plenty of times in my career,” Finch said.
“At times you go through a stage when you get a heap of runs in a hurry then you go through a lean patch.
“That’s something to look forward to, it’s such a busy schedule of cricket it’s time to build and get back into the groove of one-day cricket especially. It would be really nice to get some big runs and keep everyone off my back for a little while.”
Kolkata Knight Riders signed Aaron Finch as a replacement for England batter Alex Hales for the IPL 2022. Aaron Finch is Australia’s maiden ICC T20 World Cup-winning captain in 2021. Aaron Finch joined KKR at the price of INR 1.5 crore.
When it comes to IPL, Aaron Finch is no stranger having played for eight other franchises since his IPL debut in 2010. He managed only 86 runs in 5 IPL 2022 games averaging 17.2 for Kolkata Knight Riders.
The veteran opener managed only 135 runs in seven matches in the 2021 T20I World Cup last year at 19.29 and scored his first half-century since March 2021 in April. The 35-year-old, who will get to play 11 T20Is and as many ODIs before the T20 World Cup this year, believes he has time to rediscover his touch.